


Blush

by Tiara_of_Sapphires



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Goddess Tower (Fire Emblem), Pining, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23861152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiara_of_Sapphires/pseuds/Tiara_of_Sapphires
Summary: Byleth had heard about what it was like to be enamored with someone. It was a lot different from actually experiencing it.
Relationships: Mercedes von Martritz/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	Blush

**Author's Note:**

> I got the Mercedes Goddess Tower scene in my new BL run, sooooo yeah.  
> Enjoy!

Mercedes asked if they could dance, so dance they did.

There wasn’t any music, but that didn’t seem to deter Mercedes at all. Byleth just obediently rested a hand on her waist and took her hand in hers and started to sway.

Thankfully, they weren’t too focused on the technique of dancing, allowing Byleth time to regard her dancing partner. Mercedes had been the quiet, star pupil of the Blue Lions house. She had been proficient in magic already, but she had shown impressive prowess on the battlefield, both in attending to her fellow students with healing magic or with fighting enemies with protective ferocity.

Byleth could only admire her, since her own magic abilities left much to be desired. Admire her magic, her kindness, how her hair caught the moonlight.

“You are very lovely, you know.”

Byleth stiffened at the compliment. Nobody ever complimented her about anything except her battling ability, and now her teaching ability, if she was lucky. There were the occasional comments from men in her father’s company and the commenter would either get a blade leveled at their throat or a punch in the face.

Sure, she had to put a little more effort into her appearance regularly since she was the teacher for nobles. This night in particular, she had found time to do make her hair look a little less windblown. She even tried some of the makeup that Annette had left at her doorstep.

Lovely? That was something meant for someone else.

Mercedes must have taken her silence as a rebuke of the compliment, if the wide-eyed, nearly panicked expression told her anything.

“Oh, please don’t think I am teasing you!” she exclaimed. “I truly believe it.”

Byleth shook her head, suddenly wanting nothing more to chase the distressed expression from Mercedes’s face. It would have been unlike Mercedes to lie about something like that. It was the truth and Byleth didn't really know how to handle it.

“No, I just think you’re the first person who's said that who wasn’t being a lecher about it.”

Mercedes blinked at her owlishly before Byleth cracked a small smile. At that, Mercedes's face lit up with a smile of her own.

“Oh my, a joke and a smile! The Goddess must have blessed me with such a thing.”

Byleth suddenly felt hot all over, as if struck by fever. Any response that she could possibly make would have been so awkward and inept that she could already imagine Sylvain howling in laughter about it.

The modest space between their bodies had shrunk slightly. Sothis stayed blessedly quiet, refraining from teasing.

She knew that she technically wasn’t supposed to be doing this, as teacher and student. Mercedes was equal in her age, as far as Byleth knew. Rhea hadn’t given her a lecture about being too close to her students, but her counterparts were Hanneman and Manuela, so might have been implied.

If Mercedes was getting impatient with how skittish Byleth was being, she didn't voice it. Instead, she stepped a little closer and rested her head on Byleth’s shoulder. Now, Byleth froze for a moment, brain blanking out in panic over the closeness and whatever sweet-smelling fragrance wafted off of blonde hair.

“Sorry, this was forward of me. Are you okay?” Mercedes murmured, looking guiltily up at Byleth.

Byleth shook her head and resumed the gentle rocking that their dancing had turned to.

“I’m fine. Just not used to it.”

Silence fell after that, somehow heavier than before. Byleth was usually good with silence; she practically steeped herself in it. But, now, she mentally floundered in it like a drowning man.

She wasn’t good at talking. What would they talk about? The dance? Their classmates? How the monastery felt like it was about to explode from the dark secrets that had lingered behind the walls?

Would they talk about how Byleth hadn’t felt much of anything for years and now suddenly she was feeling something that she didn't know how to name?

Instead, Byleth starting humming, to replace the silence with music to dance to. While it would have been immediately drowned out by the orchestra in the gathering hall, it felt loud in the otherwise quiet space. It was a song she didn't know the words to, or even what the tune even was. She hummed the notes and to her ears it didn't sound too bad.

She could feel Mercedes giggle more than actually hear it.

“I don’t know. You can be romantic when you want to be.”

They rocked gently to Byleth’s song until eventually the notes faded to nothing.

There was a moment of stillness, more absolute than the silence. The evening chill had been their companion the entire time, but it was muted as Byleth was consciously aware of Mercedes's body heat and how her hands fit in hers.

Byleth wondered what it would be like to embrace her.

“That was a lovely song. I hope to hear it again,” Mercedes murmured.

Hands separated and distance returned. Mercedes watched her with bright eyes. Her hair caught in the moonlight, shining almost like silver.

In another life, where Byleth was braver and had any experience to speak of, she would have stepped back closer in askance. She wished that they were different people and not confined to the roles they were given.

“I’ll—I’ll see you around,” Byleth blurted out, as if they didn’t have an impending mission and classes where it was practically mandatory that they saw each other.

Mercedes clearly wasn’t disappointed in Byleth’s awkwardness and somehow Byleth wished that she was. At least, she would have some sort of indication that the affection was not one-sided.

“Of course, Professor.”

With a quickness meant for an assassin and not a healer, Mercedes, gripped Byleth shoulder and pulled her close. Her lips brushed over Byleth’s cheek in a kiss.

“Until next time.”

Byleth watched her flounce towards the staircase, gaping like a fish pulled out of the monastery's pond, feeling like she was boiling in her own skin.

_Next time?_

**Author's Note:**

> I DON’T KNOW. I WANTED TO WRITE SOMETHING CUTE, OKAY??  
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! I work in a clinic so days are long and difficult, even more so nowadays. Every kind word brings me more motivation to work on stories like this!  
> [Here’s my Tumblr! Feel free to follow and drop shippy drabble/fic requests!](https://tiaraofsapphires.tumblr.com/)  
> Cheers!


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